


I Won't Let You Fade Away

by RebelBelladonna (rinincali)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 13:09:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12433539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinincali/pseuds/RebelBelladonna
Summary: After the rush of saving Shiro, their escape from Earth, and the recovery of the lions, Keith needs to let off some steam and get his thoughts sorted.





	I Won't Let You Fade Away

The last couple days had been some of the longest in Keith’s life. The events following his rescue of Shiro had left him drained; physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially. He and the other “paladins” were now aboard the Castle Of Lions which Keith was still having trouble processing. He fiddled absently with his knife, lying in his bed as he attempted to grow more accustomed to his new living situation. He wouldn’t admit it but he was more than a little upset that his reunion with Shiro had been so wholly overshadowed by all the other events and people around them. Not to mention that kid Lance had insisted on coming up with stupid reasons to argue with him, monopolizing his time and distracting him from Shiro. Keith felt restless as he turned the blade over in his hands a couple more times before swinging his legs over the side of his bed to sit up. He tucked his knife away and took off out of his room, hoping he could navigate to the training room on his own.

As he made his way down the expansive corridors of the castle he stretched out his arms and occasionally jabbed at the air. There was this sensation of an electric current running under his skin that made him want to move and release the feeling from his anxious body. The walk took a while and he definitely took some wrong turns while navigating but he finally reached the open and brightly lit training room, letting out a relieved sigh. He quickly taped his hands up to the wrist and had the console pull up a punching bag for him to use.

Before long Keith found himself dripping sweat, his hair sticking to his skin as his fists rhythmically connected with the violently swinging bag. He mixed in a few kicks before backing away to breathe and peel off his already too sweat soaked shirt, the jingle of dog tags around his neck sounding off in the near silent room as they settled against his chest. After his brief break spent unwrapping his hands and putting his gloves on he loaded up a low level robot and traded his water bottle for his bayard. He challenged himself to defeat his opponent in as many different ways as possible, setting the AI to increase in difficulty as he bested each robot.

Keith lost himself in the flow of combat, his mind wandering back to his time of isolation in the desert outside of the Garrison. He thought of his nights spent below the vast expanse of the stars he had at one time wished so desperately to explore. He thought of his time watching those stars twinkling at him in a way that felt akin to mockery as he clutched Shiro’s dog tags and cursed those same stars for taking him away from Keith. He held onto hope as tight as he held onto his memories of Shiro, vowing that he would not give into grief, he would not let himself believe that Shiro was really gone. “I won’t let you fade away.” He had breathed out the promise under those stars, a promise that he did not break.

Now Keith was here, floating through an expanse of stars he had never seen before and Shiro was alive, mostly unharmed, and aboard the same ship. He thought of the moment in the Garrison tent when he saw Shiro again for the first time in far too long. His breath had been stolen from his lungs at the sight of him, of his white streaked hair and long scar marring his facial features. He had almost been unable to trust his senses, had been afraid to let himself believe that what was happening was real, that Shiro was actually alive before him. From that moment on everything was a whirlwind that he was still reeling from, a series of events that led him to this moment. He let out a harsh yell as his bayard stabbed the sparring robot through the chest and pushed out its back as though it were a pillow. He heaved a heavy breath as he removed the sword and shut the simulation off, tilting his head back for a moment.

“Wow, what did the robot do to deserve _that_?” Shiro’s joking tone reverberated through the expanse of the room and Keith almost dropped his sword. After a beat of silence Keith opened his eyes to find Shiro sitting on the steps leading down into the rectangular arena, elbows on his knees and a cute tilt to his head that made Keith’s chest tighten. Keith let out a breathy attempt at a laugh as he moved to step closer to where Shiro had settled in, nervous to get closer. “It was just another victim of my stress relief, poor thing.” He wondered if Shiro could hear the way his voice had started to waver. He wandered over to his shirt and used the fabric to dry his face in lieu of the towel he had managed to forget in his haste to let off steam and Shiro let out a gentle hum of acknowledgement. Keith found it darkly amusing just how quickly the tension he had released snapped back into place like a vindictive rubber band. He took a deep breath that he hoped Shiro didn’t notice before grabbing his water bottle and joining the older paladin on the steps. As he sat heavily Shiro offered him an easy smile and shifted slightly to better face him, bringing their knees into contact with the motion.  
“Been a crazy couple of days, huh?” Shiro attempted to say lightly but Keith felt like it sounded more tired than intended.  
“Yeah.” Keith replied shortly, pausing to take a drink of water before continuing, “I’m honestly still trying to process it all.” He shook his head slightly, which caused the dog tags around his neck to jingle enough to draw Shiro’s gaze and Keith very suddenly wished he was dead.  
“You kept your Garrison tags?” Shiro asked with that damn cute tilt to his head present once more.  
Keith really hoped that the flush from his workout was enough to mask the embarrassment he felt rushing under his skin.  
“Uh,” he started eloquently. “They’re uh… they’re yours actually.” Keith very nearly grimaced as the confession left his mouth. Shiro’s light demeanor shifted into something more serious as his grey eyes flicked between Keith’s evasive eye contact and the tags hanging against his bare chest. The itchy feeling was back under Keith’s skin and he wanted nothing more than to bolt from his spot and pretend this had never happened. Finally, Shiro broke the extended silence with the question Keith had been dreading. “Why?”  
Keith huffed out a breath as his stomach tied itself in knots, he was trapped and he wasn’t going to be able to avoid this conversation. Steeling his nerves he answered what he thought should have been obvious, all things considered.  
“They were all I had left of you.” He forced himself to look at Shiro, to maintain the nerve-wracking eye contact as the words left his mouth.  
Shiro was silent for a moment that to Keith, felt like it dragged on for an eternity. Maybe time in the castle was actually different. Shiro glanced at the tags before nodding slightly, a soft smile touching his lips.  
“I’m glad you kept them.” Another pause fell over them before Shiro continued, “I’m sorry… That I left.”  
Keith tried to swallow past the lump that had begun to form in his throat as his fingers adjusted their grip on his water bottle in an attempt to alleviate his anxiety.  
“What’s important is that you’re here now. You’re safe.” Was he pushing this too hard? Was he being too obvious in how he felt about Shiro? Would Shiro realize and push him away? As his thoughts raced and his already anxiety twisted stomach made an attempt to be even more painful a gentle hand came to rest on his own gloved one. He looked up from where he had been obsessively staring at the floor to find Shiro smiling at him, his grey eyes warm and inviting.  
“You’re right, I’m here now.” His hand clasped over Keith’s and gave it a soft squeeze, “and I’m not going anywhere.”  
Keith couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face and the tightness that squeezed at his chest. Their eye contact lingered and a feeling of tension crept up Keith’s spine as he leaned forward. Shiro’s face betrayed some surprise as his eyes widened minutely but he leaned in all the same, meeting Keith’s lips with his own in a gentle kiss. They lingered there for a moment frozen in time, neither escalating the intimacy before they parted and shared a soft laugh.  
“That took us too long.” Shiro chuckled, causing Keith to join him once more.  
“It really did.” Keith agreed before pausing and taking the sight of Shiro in. He felt emboldened by the moment they had just shared and wanted to take a risk. “I don’t want to be alone tonight. Join me?” Shiro considered the offer for only a brief moment before giving Keith another kiss.  
“Let’s go.”


End file.
